The Just Transitions Lab

Ocotillo Wind Energy Project, Ocotillo, California.

Energy and Land Use

We assess questions related to how energy systems impact land, ecosystems, and communities, and how energy landscapes can be restored and improve environmental equity.

ENvironmental Studies Master of science program at San José STate University

Flows representing a more circular production system than the take-make-waste economy.

Circular Economy & Supply Chains

Our research looks at how we can understand how waste can be utilized as resources and how to make supply chains more sustainable and just.

sustainable energy minor in environmental studies

Energy Justice, Environmental Justice, Water Justice, and Climate Justice

We look at the key issues at the root of environmental inequalities from pollution burdens, to climate vulnerabilities to water equity.

Learn more about environmental studies at sjsu

Master’s theses advised

Padmaja Iyer (MS, 2023) – Procedural Parity in Lithium Mining Development.

Nicole Chen (MS, 2023) – Power to the People: Microgrid Deployment for Energy Justice in California. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5395/

Peter Hilkene (MS, 2020) – Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Lithium-Ion Batteries Operating In California's Electrical Grid In 2019. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5145/

Lee-Tan Lu (MS, 2019) – Photovoltaic Waste Management and Implementing Extended Producer Responsibility In the Solar Industry in California. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5006

Justin Weiss (MS, 2019) – Analysis of Policy Implementation For Waste Paint: A Case Study of California Extended Producer Responsibility Policy Streams. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5051

Jason Reed (MS, 2017) – Growers’ Attitudes Towards Using Recycled Water to Mitigate Seawater Intrusion: A Case Study of the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4856/

Kristina Zeynalova (MS, 2017) – The Role of Extended Producer Responsibility Policy and its Influence on Design for Environment within the Electronics Industry. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4890/

Christina Peterson (MS, 2016) – Wilderness State Park Volunteers: A Qualitative Case Study of Meaning and Sustainability. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4736/

Tara Caughlin (MS, 2016) – Climate Science Fiction and Environmental Studies.

Christian Ardeleanu (MS, 2014) – An Analysis of an Andean Cosmovisión: Nature, Culture, Ecology, and Cosmos. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4490/

Thesis/Dissertation committees served

Julie Callahan (MS, 2012) – Ethics and Wolf Management: Attitudes Toward and Tolerance of Wolves in Washington State. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4225/

Johnathan Fata (MS, 2012) – Motivating California Organic Farmers to Go Solar: Economics May Trump Philosophy in Deciding to Adopt Photovoltaics. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4231/

Minako Nishiyama (MS, 2014) –Environmental Education as a Catalyst for Changing Students' Environmental Attitudes: A Survey of Ten Universities in the Tokyo Bay and San Francisco Bay Areas. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4507/

Jeffrey Jenkins (Ph.D., 2011–2016, UC Santa Cruz; currently Assistant Professor, UC Merced) – Dissertation: Rare Earth at Bearlodge: Extractive mineral development, multiple use management, and socio-ecological values in the American West.

Swarali Bhat (MS, 2016) – Silicon Revolution: Sustainability Disclosures and Performance in the Semiconductor Manufacturing Industry (2010–14). https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4714/

Nicholas Aijuni (MS, 2016) – Using Recycled Water for Potable Reuse in Santa Clara County, California: High school students’ knowledge and acceptance. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4830/

Kathleen Saul (Ph.D., 2017) – Nuclear Accidents and the Social Impacts of Displacement, University of Delaware.

Julia Larson (MS, 2021) – Assessing Convolutional Neural Network Animal Classification Models for Practical Applications in Wildlife Conservation. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5184/

Andreas Roos (Ph.D., 2021) – Renewing power Including global asymmetries within the system boundaries of solar photovoltaic technology, Human Ecology, Lund University.

Quratulain Ahmed (MS, 2022), Use of a Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facility by Avian Populations in Central California. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/5309/